Page 38 - Empires of Medieval West Africa

t h e Ghana Empire

In 1042–1043, three or four years after going into hiding, Yasin left the
r r ribat as supreme leader of a powerful new religious movement. ibat as supreme leader of a powerful new religious movement. ibat
His followers were called the Almoravids, from the Arabic word
al-murabitun, which means “people of the ribat.” Yasin soon formed a
new alliance with Yahya ibn Umar (d. 1056), chief of the Lamtuna. They
became the dominant force of the Almoravid movement.
The essential concern of the Almoravids was that the laws of Islam
should be strictly observed. They wanted all the rules to be followed:
In many Muslim societies
prayer and fasting (not eating anything), not drinking alcohol or eat- women wear the veil, but
ing forbidden foods, making the pilgrimage to Mecca, and learning the among the Berber Sanhaja
Quran, the Muslim sacred book. nomads and their Tuareg
They were prepared to promote these things by force through relations elsewhere in the
jihad, or armed struggle. This meant the Almoravids had to have a firm Sahara, it is the men who
cover their faces. They do
base from which to launch their military campaigns, and that the clans
this for protection against
involved had to be united. They began a campaign to incorporate the the dust and sand blown by
Massufa and other Sanhaja peoples of the Southern Sahara into their desert winds.

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